An analysis of rhythmic ratios in scores of various kinds of music

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate our daily experience of rhythm. The frequency of occurrence of rhythmic patterns consisting of two intervals was counted in different music corpora. Only subdivisions of metrical units were considered. A very large corpus of diverse kinds of music (western classical music, folk music, national anthems, and popular music) was investigated to obtain appropriate counts for the wide range of frequencies of rhythmic patterns that occur in music. Most of the relations of two intervals could be classified into simple integer ratios and there was an amazingly high consistency among different kinds of music. We conclude that our study showed a universality of fundamental rhythmic components, regardless the style of music.